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Tuesday’s win over the New York Knicks seemed like a seminal moment for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They showed that the new-look team could hang with one of the best teams in the conference, while still acknowledging that there was room to grow.
Unfortunately for the Cavs, things haven’t gone well since that day. The team announced that James Harden broke his thumb in the win, Donovan Mitchell was added to the injury report with a groin strain, and the Cavs lost to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday due to poor perimeter defense.
A loss in the standings wasn’t the only thing the Cavs suffered that day. Three new rotation players have been added to the injury report. Keon Ellis has broken his left index finger, Dean Wade has a right ankle sprain, and Dennis Schroder also has a right ankle sprain.
This has all led to the following injury report for Friday’s game against the Detroit Pistons:
- Donovan Mitchell – OUT, groin strain
- James Harden – QUESTIONABLE, broken thumb
- Dean Wade – QUESTIONABLE, right ankle sprain
- Dennis Schroder – QUESTIONABLE, right ankle sprain
- Keon Ellis – QUESTIONABLE, right ankle sprain
- Max Strus – OUT, left foot Jones fracture
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The severity of any of the new injuries isn’t known at this time.
The most concerning part of the injury report is Mitchell missing his second game in a row with a groin strain. It seems like Mitchell has battled some kind of injury in late February/early March for the past few seasons. This groin strain is the latest one.
The Cavs need Mitchell at his best if they’re going to meet playoff expectations. Shutting him down for several games, if needed, would be in their long-term best interest. We’ll likely find out more information about his injury on Friday evening when head coach Kenny Atkinson speaks with the media.
Harden is expected to play through his thumb injury and could return to the court for this matchup.
The three new names on the injury report of Ellis, Wade, and Schroder are concerning. Each fills a vital role for this team that isn’t easily replaced.
We’ll see which of the questionable players are available to play. At the very least, it’s disappointing that the Cavs will be without their best player and could be missing several key contributors in Friday’s matchup with Detroit.